Project management is a challenging, rewarding, and increasingly popular career choice – and with a boom in demand to match! Over the last few years, experienced project managers have been getting snapped up with ever-increasing zeal. With their ability to help organizations achieve crucial goals while optimizing value and implementing positive long-term changes, they play a crucial role in the competitive world of business.
In such a widespread profession, it’s important to stand out. Obviously, experience and demonstrable success will always be crucial for candidates seeking the best jobs out there. However, experience alone is not always sufficient, and for candidates who want a simple way to impress employers by demonstrating their knowledge of proven tools and best practices, project management certification is key.
Enter ‘PRojects IN Controlled Environments 2’, better known as ‘PRINCE2’. Developed by AXELOS, PRINCE2 is one of the world’s most popular project management frameworks. Indeed, many high-level vacancies often demand that candidates be at least aware of it, if not fully certified and with several years of experience under their belt.
Offering a traditional yet flexible approach to project management, PRINCE2 is applied in different industries all over the world. PRINCE2 practitioners often enjoy a much wider choice of jobs to apply for and will even earn more than non-certified colleagues, quickly answering the question: “Is PRINCE2 certification worth the cost?”
Plus, if you have ever worked with a recruitment company, you will know how much they love looking for well-known qualifications when selecting candidates to put forward for roles.
Getting certified in PRINCE2 demonstrates a candidate’s understanding of and ability to apply the framework in practice. For those who take the time to renew their certification, as is required every three to five years, it also shows an impressive level of commitment to PRINCE2’s way of doing things, as well as a high degree of confidence in the overall approach.
That being said, we would be lying if we said that simply earning your PRINCE2 certification will be enough to land you the role of your dreams. So, what kind of role can you unlock by becoming qualified in PRINCE2? What other requirements do you need to be aware of? And what level do you have to be before PRINCE2 starts making an impact?
In this article, we will explore just how studying PRINCE2 could influence your career.
What roles are associated with PRINCE2?
Here are just a few of the project roles associated with PRINCE2 certification:
- Project support
- Project coordinator
- Project analyst
- Project control officer
- Project administrator
- Junior project manager
- Program manager
- Project director
- PMO analyst
- Product owner
Before we continue, it is important to stress just how much of an umbrella term ‘project management’ actually is. It contains a number of roles with varying points of focus and levels of seniority depending on elements like:
- Industry
- Strategic goals
- Team and company size
- Candidate seniority
- Preferred approach (e.g., traditional project management vs. Agile)
The final point is particularly noteworthy, especially since Agile project management is becoming more widespread. Were a candidate dealing with a company that preferred the Agile approach, they would be better equipped with a PRINCE2 Agile qualification.
Project management is also connected to other disciplines, most notably ‘program management’. This requires candidates to manage multiple related projects and often deals with much greater complexity. Notably, higher-tier positions can also value other frameworks over PRINCE2, such as Managing Successful Programmes (MSP).
What skills can I learn with PRINCE2?
PRINCE2 is less of a methodology and more of an adaptive framework that can be made to suit an individual company based on its industry, size, location, project goals, and so on. As a result, the skills and knowledge points outlined in the PRINCE2 are highly transferable – yet another reason why the qualifications are so highly valued!
Studying PRINCE2 can help candidates with:
- Working with stakeholders and clients
- Formulating and implementing project plans
- Managing project teams
- Defining and reaching projected milestones
- Communication
- Resource allocation
- Assigning roles and responsibilities
- Time management
- Critical thinking
Studying PRINCE2 is not always about learning to handle these tasks as a manager. Junior employees familiar with PRINCE2 can also play an important role in facilitating each of these areas, helping to bring projects to fruition while also gaining valuable experience.
Will getting certified in PRINCE2 be enough to land a role?
As much as it pains us to say it, the short answer is: no. For a candidate without the required experience applying the framework and working in project teams, simply being certified in PRINCE2, whether at Foundation or Practitioner level, can be insufficient. Project managers create a significant amount of value for organizations. As such, businesses want to be confident that their chosen candidate has a proven track record. Someone at the managerial level will have several years of experience under their belt in junior and support-oriented positions.
If you have experience as a project manager, PRINCE2 will certainly make you stand out. Being able to comment on what differentiates PRINCE2 from the competition using your own unique knowledge can be a great way to impress interviewers.
Experience applying the framework will always be a factor, however. You may even want to begin using elements of PRINCE2 while you are still going through the certification path, as this may even help familiarize you with the framework and prepare you for your exams.
Even for inexperienced candidates, PRINCE2 can still help to open doors in terms of low-level roles. It provides an awareness of key elements of project management that can help new employees hit the ground running and, as we have said, will certainly help candidates stand out to recruiters.
Good e-Learning is an award-winning online training provider with a diverse portfolio of e-learning courses. Our PRINCE2 and PRINCE2 Agile courses are fully accredited, offering candidates a flexible and demonstrably effective path to certification with help from leading subject matter experts and training specialists. Students even enjoy free exam vouchers and resits for the PRINCE2 exams.
Want to find out more? Visit the Good e-Learning website, or contact a member of our team today.
